Social Support and Disclosure of War-Zone Experiences After Deployment to Afghanistan-Implications for Posttraumatic Deprecation or Growth

This study explores social support and personal barriers toward disclosing war-related traumatic experiences and how both are associated with veterans' posttraumatic changes after deployment to Afghanistan. A trauma-exposed sample was selected from Norwegian Afghanistan veterans (N = 3,465). Inclusion was based on self-reported exposure to 1 or more of 12 typical traumatic war zone events; they covered danger-based and nondanger-based stressors. Veterans' number of close friends and the quality of their support network were used as measures of their structural and functional social support. In 4 linear regression analyses, structural and functional social support, as well as personal barriers to disclose traumatic experiences, were examined in relation to what characterized the veterans' posttraumatic changes toward posttraumatic deprecation (PTD), posttraumatic growth (PTG), or no change. Both structural social support (p < .001) and functional social support (p < .001) were associated with PTG after war-related stressors. Barriers to disclose trauma was found to be associated with PTD (p < .001). However, in a regressional model including structural social support, functional social support, and personal barriers to disclose traumatic experiences, the personal barriers appeared no longer to be significantly associated with reports of PTD. High levels of structural and functional social support seem to promote PTG. Importantly, this study also indicates that although personal barriers to share traumatic experiences is associated with PTD, social support appears to buffer against this negative influence. If veterans report good social support, such barriers are no longer associated with PTD.